REFLECTIONS AND RESOURCES

Learn more about the new Apostolic Exhortation by Pope Francis.

SUMMARY OFAMORIS LAETITIA

Amoris Laetitia brings together the results of the two Synods on the family convoked by Pope Francis in 2014 & 2015.

QUESTIONS ANDANSWERS

Amoris Laetitia draws on a long history of Church teaching, and a very intense Synod experience.

MULTIMEDIARESOURCES

Video, blogs, and other commentary on Amoris Laetitia from multiple news sources.

AMORIS LAETITIAREADING GUIDE

This brief guide introduces you to the approach and style of the Exhortation, which is first & foremost a pastoral teaching.

ST. JOHN PAUL IITHEOLOGY OF THE BODY

An important source for the Exhortation are the teachings of Saint John Paul II on the theology of the body (1980) and on the language of the body (1984).

POPE FRANCIS ON THE FAMILY

From the year of catecheses by Pope Francis on the family, here are a dozen passages selected for their importance in the Exhortation.

Summary ofAmoris Laetitia: On Love in the Family

The Apostolic Exhortation is striking for its breadth and detail.

It is not by chance that Amoris Laetitia (AL), “The Joy of Love”, the post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation “on Love in the Family”, was signed on 19 March, the Solemnity of Saint Joseph. It brings together the results of the two Synods on the family convoked by Pope Francis in 2014 and 2015. It often cites their Final Reports; documents and teachings of his Predecessors; and his own numerous catecheses on the family. In addition, as in previous magisterial documents, the Pope also makes use of the contributions of various Episcopal Conferences around the world (Kenya, Australia, Argentina...) and cites significant figures such as Martin Luther King and Erich Fromm. The Pope even quotes the film Babette’s Feast to illustrate the concept of gratuity.

Introduction (1-7)

The Apostolic Exhortation is striking for its breadth and detail. Its 325 paragraphs are distributed over nine chapters. The seven introductory paragraphs plainly set out the complexity of a topic in urgent need of thorough study. The interventions of the Synod Fathers make up [form] a “multifaceted gem” (AL 4), a precious polyhedron, whose value must be preserved. But the Pope cautions that “not all discussions of doctrinal, moral or pastoral issues need to be settled by interventions of the magisterium”. Indeed, for some questions, “each country or region … can seek solutions better suited to its culture and sensitive to its traditions and local needs. For ‘cultures are in fact quite diverse and every general principle … needs to be inculturated, if it is to be respected and applied’” (AL 3). This principle of inculturation applies to how problems are formulated and addressed and, apart from the dogmatic issues that have been well defined by the Church’s magisterium, none of this approach can be “globalized”. In his address at the end of the 2015 Synod, the Pope said very clearly: “What seems normal for a bishop on one continent, is considered strange and almost scandalous – almost! – for a bishop from another; what is considered a violation of a right in one society is an evident and inviolable rule in another; what for some is freedom of conscience is for others simply confusion.”

The Pope clearly states that we need above all to avoid a sterile juxtaposition between demands for change and the general application of abstract norms. He writes: “The debates carried on in the media, in certain publications and even among the Church’s ministers, range from an immoderate desire for total change without sufficient reflection or grounding, to an attitude that would solve everything by applying general rules or deriving undue conclusions from particular theological considerations” (AL 2).

Chapter One: “In the light of the Word” (8-30)

Following this introduction, the Pope begins his reflections with the Holy Scriptures in the first chapter, which unfolds as a meditation on Psalm 128 (which appears in the Jewish wedding liturgy as well as that of Christian marriages). The Bible “is full of families, births, love stories and family crises” (AL 8). This impels us to meditate on how the family is not an abstract ideal but rather like a practical

“trade” (AL 16), which is carried out with tenderness (AL 28), but which has also been confronted with sin from the beginning, when the relationship of love turned into domination (cf. AL 19). Hence, the Word of God “is not a series of abstract ideas but rather a source of comfort and companionship for every family that experiences difficulties or suffering. For it shows them the goal of their journey...” (AL 22).

Chapter two: “The experiences and challenges of families” (31-57)

Building on the biblical base, in the second chapter the Pope considers the current situation of families. While keeping “firmly grounded in [the] reality” of family experiences (AL 6), he also draws heavily on the final Reports of the two Synods. Families face many challenges, from migration to the ideological denial of differences between the sexes (“ideology of gender” AL 56); from the culture of the provisional to the anti-birth mentality and the impact of biotechnology in the field of procreation; from the lack of housing and work to pornography and abuse of minors; from inattention to persons with disabilities, to lack of respect for the elderly; from the legal dismantling of the family, to violence against women. The Pope insists on concreteness, which is a key concept in the Exhortation. And it is concreteness, realism and daily life that make up the substantial difference between acceptable “theories” of interpretation of reality and arbitrary “ideologies”.

Citing Familiaris consortio, Francis states that “we do well to focus on concrete realities, since ‘the call and the demands of the Spirit resound in the events of history’, and through these ‘the Church can also be guided to a more profound understanding of the inexhaustible mystery of marriage and the family’” (AL 31). Conversely, if we fail to listen to reality, we cannot understand the needs of the present or the movements of the Spirit. The Pope notes that rampant individualism makes it difficult today for a person to give oneself generously to another (cf. AL 33). Here is an interesting picture of the situation: “The fear of loneliness and the desire for stability and fidelity exist side by side with a growing fear of entrapment in a relationship that could hamper the achievement of one’s personal goals” (AL 34).

The humility of realism helps us to avoid presenting “a far too abstract and almost artificial theological ideal of marriage, far removed from the concrete situations and practical possibilities of real families” (AL 36). Idealism does not allow marriage to be understood for what it is, that is, a “dynamic path to personal development and fulfillment”. It is unrealistic to think that families can sustain themselves “simply by stressing doctrinal, bioethical and moral issues, without encouraging openness to grace” (AL 37). Calling for a certain “self-criticism” of approaches that are inadequate for the experience of marriage and the family, the Pope stresses the need to make room for the formation of the conscience of the faithful: “We have been called to form consciences, not to replace them” (AL 37). Jesus proposed a demanding ideal but “never failed to show compassion and closeness to the frailty of individuals like the Samaritan woman or the woman caught in adultery” (AL 38).

Chapter three: “Looking to Jesus: The vocation of the family” (58-88)

The third chapter is dedicated to some essential elements of the Church’s teaching on marriage and the family. This chapter is important because its 30 paragraphs concisely depict the vocation of the family according to the Gospel and as affirmed by the Church over time. Above all, it stresses the themes of indissolubility, the sacramental nature of marriage, the transmission of life and the education of children. Gaudium et Spes of Vatican II, Humanae Vitae of Paul VI, and Familiaris Consortio of John Paul II are widely quoted.

The chapter provides a broad view and touches on “imperfect situations” as well. We can read, in fact: “‘Discernment of the presence of ‘seeds of the Word’ in other cultures (cf. Ad Gentes 11) can also apply to the reality of marriage and the family. In addition to true natural marriage, positive elements exist in the forms of marriage found in other religious traditions’, even if, at times, obscurely” (AL 77). The reflection also includes the “wounded families” about whom the Pope – quoting the Final Report of the 2015 Synod extensively – says that “it is always necessary to recall this general principle: ‘Pastors must know that, for the sake of truth, they are obliged to exercise careful discernment of situations’ (Familiaris Consortio, 84). The degree of responsibility is not equal in all cases and factors may exist which limit the ability to make a decision. Therefore, while clearly stating the Church’s teaching, pastors are to avoid judgements that do not take into account the complexity of various situations, and they are to be attentive, by necessity, to how people experience and endure distress because of their condition” (AL 79).

Chapter four: “Love in marriage” (89-164)

The fourth chapter treats love in marriage, which it illuminates with Saint Paul’s Hymn to Love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. This opening section is truly a painstaking, focused, inspired and poetic exegesis of the Pauline text. It is a collection of brief passages carefully and tenderly describing human love in absolutely concrete terms. The quality of psychological introspection that marks this exegesis is striking. The psychological insights enter into the emotional world of the spouses – positive and negative – and the erotic dimension of love. This is an extremely rich and valuable contribution to Christian married life, unprecedented in previous papal documents.

This section digresses briefly from the more extensive, perceptive treatment of the day-to-day experience of married love which the Pope refuses to judge against ideal standards: “There is no need to lay upon two limited persons the tremendous burden of having to reproduce perfectly the union existing between Christ and his Church, for marriage as a sign entails ‘a dynamic process…, one which advances gradually with the progressive integration of the gifts of God’” (AL 122). On the other hand, the Pope forcefully stresses the fact that conjugal love by its very nature defines the partners in a richly encompassing and lasting union (AL 123), precisely within that “mixture of enjoyment and struggles, tensions and repose, pain and relief, satisfactions and longings, annoyances and pleasures” (Al 126) which indeed make up a marriage.

The chapter concludes with a very important reflection on the “transformation of love” because “Longer life spans now mean that close and exclusive relationships must last for four, five or even six decades; consequently, the initial decision has to be frequently renewed” (AL 163). As physical appearance alters, the loving attraction does not lessen but changes as sexual desire can be transformed over time into the desire for togetherness and mutuality: “There is no guarantee that we will feel the same way all through life. Yet if a couple can come up with a shared and lasting life project, they can love one another and live as one until death do them part, enjoying an enriching intimacy” (AL 163).

Chapter five: “Love made fruitful” (165-198)

The fifth chapter is entirely focused on love’s fruitfulness and procreation. It speaks in a profoundly spiritual and psychological manner about welcoming new life, about the waiting period of pregnancy, about the love of a mother and a father. It also speaks of the expanded fruitfulness of adoption, of welcoming the contribution of families to promote a “culture of encounter”, and of family life in a broad sense which includes aunts and uncles, cousins, relatives of relatives, friends. Amoris laetitia does not focus on the so-called “nuclear” family” because it is very aware of the family as a wider network of many relationships. The spirituality of the sacrament of marriage has a deeply social character (cf. AL187). And within this social dimension the Pope particularly emphasizes the specific role of the relationship between youth and the elderly, as well as the relationship between brothers and sisters as a training ground for relating with others.

Chapter six: “Some pastoral perspectives” (199-258)

In the sixth chapter the Pope treats various pastoral perspectives that are aimed at forming solid and fruitful families according to God’s plan. The chapter use the Final Reports of the two Synods and the catecheses of Pope Francis and Pope John Paul II extensively. It reiterates that families should not only be evangelized, they should also evangelize. The Pope regrets “that ordained ministers often lack the training needed to deal with the complex problems currently facing families” (AL 202). On the one hand, the psycho-affective formation of seminarians needs to be improved, and families need to be more involved in formation for ministry (cf. AL 203); and on the other hand, “the experience of the broad oriental tradition of a married clergy could also be drawn upon” (AL 202).

The Pope then deals with the preparation of the engaged for marriage; with the accompaniment of couples in the first years of married life, including the issue of responsible parenthood; and also with certain complex situations and crises, knowing that “each crisis has a lesson to teach us; we need to learn how to listen for it with the ear of the heart” (AL 232). Some causes of crisis are analysed, among them a delay in maturing affectively (cf. AL 239).

Mention is furthermore made of accompanying abandoned, separated or divorced persons. The Exhortation stresses the importance of the recent reform of the procedures for marriage annulment. It highlights the suffering of children in situations of conflict and concludes: “Divorce is an evil and the increasing number of divorces is very troubling. Hence, our most important pastoral task with regard to families is to strengthen their love, helping to heal wounds and working to prevent the spread of this drama of our times” (AL 246). It then touches on the situations of a marriage between a Catholic and a Christian of another denomination (mixed marriages), and between a Catholic and someone of another religion (disparity of cult). Regarding families with members with homosexual tendencies, it reaffirms the necessity to respect them and to refrain from any unjust discrimination and every form of aggression or violence. The last, pastorally poignant part of the chapter, “When death makes us feel its sting”, is on the theme of the loss of dear ones and of widowhood.

Chapter seven: “Towards a better education of children” (259-290)

The seventh chapter is dedicated to the education of children: their ethical formation, the learning of discipline which can include punishment, patient realism, sex education, passing on the faith and, more generally, family life as an educational context. The practical wisdom present in each paragraph is remarkable, above all the attention given to those gradual, small steps “that can be understood, accepted and appreciated” (AL 271).

There is a particularly interesting and pedagogically fundamental paragraph in which Francis clearly states that “obsession, however, is not education. We cannot control every situation that a child may experience… If parents are obsessed with always knowing where their children are and controlling all their movements, they will seek only to dominate space. But this is no way to educate, strengthen and prepare their children to face challenges. What is most important is the ability lovingly to help them grow in freedom, maturity, overall discipline and real autonomy” (AL 260).

The notable section on education in sexuality is very expressively entitled: “Yes to sex education”. The need is there, and we have to ask “if our educational institutions have taken up this challenge … in an age when sexuality tends to be trivialized and impoverished”. Sound education needs to be carried out “within the broader framework of an education for love, for mutual self-giving” (AL 280). The text warns that the expression ‘safe sex’ conveys “a negative attitude towards the natural procreative finality of sexuality, as if an eventual child were an enemy to be protected against. This way of thinking promotes narcissism and aggressivity in place of acceptance” (AL 283).

The eighth chapter is an invitation to mercy and pastoral discernment in situations that do not fully match what the Lord proposes. The Pope uses three very important verbs: guiding, discerning and integrating, which are fundamental in addressing fragile, complex or irregular situations. The chapter has sections on the need for gradualness in pastoral care; the importance of discernment; norms and mitigating circumstances in pastoral discernment; and finally what the Pope calls the “logic of pastoral mercy”.

Chapter eight is very sensitive. In reading it one must remember that “the Church’s task is often like that of a field hospital” (AL 291). Here the Holy Father grapples with the findings of the Synods on controversial issues. He reaffirms what Christian marriage is and adds that “some forms of union radically contradict this ideal, while others realize it in at least a partial and analogous way”. The Church therefore “does not disregard the constructive elements in those situations which do not yet or no longer correspond to her teaching on marriage” (AL 292).

As far as discernment with regard to “irregular” situations is concerned, the Pope states: “There is a need ‘to avoid judgements which do not take into account the complexity of various situations’ and to be attentive, by necessity, to how people experience distress because of their condition’” (AL 296). And he continues: “It is a matter of reaching out to everyone, of needing to help each person find his or her proper way of participating in the ecclesial community, and thus to experience being touched by an ‘unmerited, unconditional and gratuitous’ mercy” (AL 297). And further: “The divorced who have entered a new union, for example, can find themselves in a variety of situations, which should not be pigeonholed or fit into overly rigid classifications leaving no room for a suitable personal and pastoral discernment” (AL 298).

In this line, gathering the observations of many Synod Fathers, the Pope states that “the baptized who are divorced and civilly remarried need to be more fully integrated into Christian communities in the variety of ways possible, while avoiding any occasion of scandal”. “Their participation can be expressed in different ecclesial services… Such persons need to feel not as excommunicated members of the Church, but instead as living members, able to live and grow in the Church… This integration is also needed in the care and Christian upbringing of their children” (AL 299).

In a more general vein, the Pope makes an extremely important statement for understanding the orientation and meaning of the Exhortation: “If we consider the immense variety of concrete situations, … it is understandable that neither the Synod nor this Exhortation could be expected to provide a new set of general rules, canonical in nature and applicable to all cases. What is needed is simply a renewed encouragement to undertake a responsible personal and pastoral discernment of particular cases, one which would recognize that, since ‘the degree of responsibility is not equal in all cases’, the consequences or effects of a rule need not necessarily always be the same” (AL 300). The Pope develops in depth the needs and characteristics of the journey of accompaniment and discernment necessary for profound dialogue between the faithful and their pastors.

For this purpose the Holy Father recalls the Church’s reflection on “mitigating factors and situations” regarding the attribution of responsibility and accountability for actions; and relying on St. Thomas Aquinas, he focuses on the relationship between rules and discernment by stating: “It is true that general rules set forth a good which can never be disregarded or neglected, but in their formulation they cannot provide absolutely for all particular situations. At the same time, it must be said that, precisely for that reason, what is part of a practical discernment in particular circumstances cannot be elevated to the level of a rule” (AL 304).

The last section of the chapter treats “The logic of pastoral mercy”. To avoid misunderstandings, Pope Francis strongly reiterates: “To show understanding in the face of exceptional situations never implies dimming the light of the fuller ideal, or proposing less than what Jesus offers to the human being. Today, more important than the pastoral care of failures is the pastoral effort to strengthen marriages and thus to prevent their breakdown” (AL 307).

The overall sense of the chapter and of the spirit that Pope Francis wishes to impart to the pastoral work of the Church is well summed up in the closing words: “I encourage the faithful who find themselves in complicated situations to speak confidently with their pastors or with other lay people whose lives are committed to the Lord. They may not always encounter in them a confirmation of their own ideas or desires, but they will surely receive some light to help them better understand

their situation and discover a path to personal growth. I also encourage the Church’s pastors to listen to them with sensitivity and serenity, with a sincere desire to understand their plight and their point of view, in order to help them live better lives and to recognize their proper place in the Church.” (AL 312).

On the “logic of pastoral mercy”, Pope Francis emphasizes: “At times we find it hard to make room for God’s unconditional love in our pastoral activity. We put so many conditions on mercy that we empty it of its concrete meaning and real significance. That is the worst way of watering down the Gospel” (AL 311).

Chapter nine: “The spirituality of marriage and the family” (313-325)

The ninth chapter is devoted to marital and family spirituality, which “is made up of thousands of small but real gestures” (AL 315). The Pope clearly states that “those who have deep spiritual aspirations should not feel that the family detracts from their growth in the life of the Spirit, but rather see it as a path which the Lord is using to lead them to the heights of mystical union” (AL 316). Everything, “moments of joy, relaxation, celebration, and even sexuality can be experienced as a sharing in the full life of the resurrection” (AL 317). He then speaks of prayer in the light of Easter, of the spirituality of exclusive and free love in the challenge and the yearning to grow old together, reflecting God’s fidelity (cf. AL 319). And finally the spirituality of care, consolation and incentive: the Pope teaches that “all family life is a ‘shepherding’ in mercy. Each of us, by our love and care, leaves a mark on the life of others” (AL 322). It is a profound “spiritual experience to contemplate our loved ones with the eyes of God and to see Christ in them” (AL 323).

In the final paragraph the Pope affirms: “No family drops down from heaven perfectly formed; families need constantly to grow and mature in the ability to love … All of us are called to keep striving towards something greater than ourselves and our families, and every family must feel this constant impulse. Let us make this journey as families, let us keep walking together. (…) May we never lose heart because of our limitations, or ever stop seeking that fullness of love and communion which God holds out before us” (AL 325).

The Apostolic Exhortation concludes with a Prayer to the Holy Family.

* * *

As can readily be understood from a quick review of its contents, the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris laetitia seeks emphatically to affirm not the “ideal family” but the very rich and complex reality of family life. Its pages provide an openhearted look, profoundly positive, which is nourished not with abstractions or ideal projections, but with pastoral attention to reality. The text is a close reading of family life, with spiritual insights and practical wisdom useful for every human couple or persons who want to build a family. Above all, it is patently the result of attention to what people have lived over many years. The Exhortation Amoris laetitia: On Love in the Family indeed speaks the language of experience and of hope.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

The following questions and answers may help to focus on some important points of Amoris Laetitia, “The Joy of Love: On Love in the Family”, the Exhortation written by Pope Francis after the two Synods of Bishops on that topic in October 2014 and October 2015.

AL draws on a long history of Church teaching, and a very intense Synod experience. It draws on both new and old. What’s new above all is an attitude of accompaniment. Pope Francis, like his predecessors, recognizes the complexity of modern family life. But he puts an added emphasis on the need for the Church and her ministers to be close to people no matter what their situation might be or how far from the Church they might feel: to understand, to accompany, to integrate, and to have their arms open especially for anyone who is hurting. (AL 311) AL is not simply a theoretical text with no connection to people’s real problems.

The very title suggests the positive thrust of the document. It continually offers concrete reminders of the beauty of family life, despite all the challenges this vocation can entail. Pope Francis writes eloquently about how forming a family means being part of God’s dream, joining him in building a world “where no one will feel alone.” (AL 320)

2. Why is this such a long document? Can most Catholics read it and benefit from it? Or is it for experts only?

Pope Francis notes in the introduction that nobody should rush through AL, and people should pay attention to what applies most to their specific needs.

While AL is essential reading for bishops, priests, and anyone involved with the family apostolate, it is important that all Catholics see the effort the Church is making to be close to them. For example, married couples will be especially interested in Chapter Four on “Love in Marriage,” Chapter Five, on “Love Made Fruitful” and Chapter Seven, on the “Education of Children.”

Pope Francis wants to help Christian couples persevere with fidelity and patience, and encourages everyone to be a sign of mercy wherever family life lacks peace and joy. (AL 5)

Readers may be pleasantly surprised by how concrete AL is. Pope Francis, with a pastor’s heart, simply yet deeply enters into the everyday realities of family life.

3. Much of the controversy around the Synod was about Catholics who are divorced and remarried civilly receiving Holy Communion. But AL does not pronounce definitively on the issue. Why not?

The Synod discovered that arguments with winners and losers were not productive. What was productive was a deep, respectful and compassionate examination of family life, marriage, and the People of God as they strive to live out their vocation in troubled and complex times.

Chapter Eight, “Accompanying, Discerning and Integrating Weakness,” offers a very profound look at how general rules do not apply straightforwardly to every particular situation. And so there is need to take the complexity of each situation into account.

The Pope acknowledges that everyone should feel challenged by Chapter Eight. It certainly calls pastors and those working in family apostolates to listen sensitively to anyone who feels wounded, and to help them experience God’s unconditional love.

4. An important word in this document is “discernment.” What does discernment mean for Pope Francis? Does it mean someone can simply look for a compassionate priest to tell him or her that everything is ok?

Discernment is a constant effort to be open to the Word of God to illuminate the concrete reality of everyday life. Discernment leads us to be docile to the Spirit; it encourages each of us to act with all possible love in concrete situations.

Pope Francis asks pastors and faithful to discern each concrete situation carefully. Any priest or pastoral worker who is actively involved in helping people grow spiritually knows that there are no easy recipes, no “one-size-fits-all”, no quick and easy exceptions.

At the same time, discernment can never be separated from the Gospel demands of truth and charity and from the teaching and tradition of the Church. It requires humility and a sincere search for God’s will.

5. There are many Catholics who are divorced and civilly remarried, struggling to try to do things right and bring up their children in the Church. What does AL offer them?

AL offers them the guarantee that the Church and her ministers care about them and their concrete situation. AL wants them to feel and to know that they are part of the Church. They are not excommunicated. (AL 243) Even if they cannot yet fully participate in the Church’s sacramental life, they are encouraged to take active part in the life of the community.

A key concept of AL is integration. Pastors need to do everything possible to help people in these situations to be included in the life of the community.

Anyone in a so-called “irregular” situation should get special attention. “Helping heal the wounds of parents and supporting them spiritually is also beneficial for children, who need the familiar face of the Church to see them through this traumatic experience.” (AL 246)

6. For a Synod that at one moment seemed to offer broad new acceptance for gays in the Church, AL seems to present precious little. What happened?

Church teaching remains clear: marriage is between a man and a woman, and homosexual unions cannot be placed on the same level as Christian marriage. (AL 250)

That said, it is important that we all learn to imitate God’s unconditional love, for everyone. “The Church makes her own the attitude of the Lord Jesus, who offers his boundless love to each person without exception.” (AL 250)

While its focus is on marriage and family, AL also speaks to countless people who aren’t married. These include single parents, widows and widowers, celibate men and women – all of whom have family links. Everyone is a son or daughter; everyone has a family history; everyone has bonds of love with family members; and everyone has friends in difficult and painful situations.

7. AL is critical in talking about past practices (nn 36, 37, 38) including an emphasis on doctrinal and moral issues, and denouncing a decadent world without offering much that is positive. Is that a criticism of past papacies?

A quick look at the footnotes shows how extensively John Paul II is quoted in AL, especially Familiaris Consortio. Pope Francis also makes use of Deus Caritas Est from Pope Benedict.

AL offers hope, and hope in abundance. It is not a list of rules or of condemnations but a call for acceptance and of accompaniment, involvement and integration. Even when people –- for so many different reasons -- have not been able to live up to the ideals of Christ’s teaching, the Church and her ministers want to be at their side to help them on their journey.

“The way of the Church is not to condemn anyone for ever; it is to pour out the balm of God’s mercy on all those who ask for it with a sincere heart.” (AL 295)

8. One of the biggest concerns of many couples is spacing births, yet it’s not a major subject in AL. Why not?

AL actually deals with this subject in several different sections, including nn. 42, 68, 82 and 222. While noting that greater emphasis has to be given to the fact that children are a gift from God and a joy for parents, it also cites Humanae Vitae, stressing that spouses be aware of their obligations concerning responsible parenthood. (AL 68)

Moreover, a decision about the spacing of births “takes place as the result of a consensual dialogue between the spouses.” (AL 222)

AL cites the Second Vatican Council in this regard, emphasizing the importance of the formation of conscience, where each person is alone with God.

The exhortation also encourages natural methods of regulating births, since they respect the bodies and indeed the “whole person” of the spouses.

9. What’s the greatest challenge of Amoris Laetitia?

The biggest challenge is for everyone to read it without rushing and put it into practice. AL lays out proposals for the Church and her pastors to change its focus regarding the family: to accompany, to integrate, to remain close to anyone who has suffered the effects of wounded love.

Above all, AL challenges us to be understanding in the face of complex and painful situations.

Pope Francis would have us approach the weak with compassion, and not judgement, to “enter into the reality of other people’s lives and to know the power of tenderness.” (AL 308)

Conscience and Communion (Catholic News Service)
Cardinals talk about the pastoral possibilities opened by Pope Francis' exhortation on the family.

"The Joy of Love" EP01: Introduction (Fr. Dan Horan, OFM)
In this first episode of "The Joy of Love," Fr. Daniel P. Horan, OFM explores the introduction to Pope Francis's Apostolic Exhortation "Amoris Laetitia." Stay tuned for more installments to come!

READING GUIDE

A brief Reading Guide introduces You to the approach or style of the Exhortation, which is first and foremost a pastoral teaching.

In his previous Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium, Pope Francis wrote that, after two thousand years, Jesus has once again become a stranger in so many countries, even in the West. For this reason, “we need to be realistic and not assume that our audience understands the full background to what we are saying, or is capable of relating what we say to the very heart of the Gospel which gives it meaning, beauty and attractiveness” (EG 34).

Hence, the style of Pope Francis encourages not just a “renewal” but even more, a real “conversion” of language. The aim is clear: to ensure that the proclamation of the Gospel is meaningful and reaches everyone. The Gospel must not be merely theoretical, not detached from people’s real lives. To talk about the family and to families, the challenge is not to change doctrine but to inculturate the general principles in ways that they can be understood and practiced. Our language should encourage and reassure every positive step taken by every real family.

Accordingly, Pope Francis wants to express himself in language that truly reaches the audience – and this implies discernment and dialogue.

Discernment avoids taking truths and choices for granted; it has us examine and consciously adopt our formulations of truths and the choices we make.

Like his predecessors, Pope Francis asks that as pastors we discern amongst the various situations experienced by our faithful and by all people, the families, the individuals. Such discernment is necessary constantly, not only in exceptional cases. Discernment is a constant process of being open to the Word of God to illuminate the concrete reality of every life; it leads us to be docile to the Spirit; it encourages each of us to act with all the love possible in concrete situations. Discernment thus encourages us to grow from good to better. One of the characteristics of discernment, according to St Ignatius of Loyola, is the insistence not only on taking the objective truth into account, but also on expressing this truth with a good, a constructive spirit. Discernment is the dialogue of the shepherds with the Good Shepherd in order to always seek the salvation of the sheep.

The mentality of Pope Francis is one of dialogue. He values thought that he calls “incomplete” and holds it to be eminently dialogical, that is to say not self-centered, not abstract, not a monologue. Dialogue means that we must not to take what we ourselves think for granted, nor what the other thinks. Francis shows us two types of persons for whom dialogue is not possible because both "boil down" or reduce to themselves. Some reduce their own being to what they know or feel (he calls this "gnosticism"); the others reduce their own being to their strengths (he calls this "neopelagianism"). Dialogue involves belief in our essence as social beings and in our individual incompleteness – and this is basically positive, because it prevents us from closing in on ourselves and opens us to the love from which we come.

For the culture of dialogue, the inclusion of everyone is essential. But to say that we are all subjects does not mean a mere sum of all individuals; rather it means that the sum of all is understood as a people. The Pope suggests that we explicitly dwell on this way of understanding the Church, as the faithful people of God. The Pope’s vision of society is inclusive. Such inclusion involves the effort to accept diversity, to dialogue with those who think differently, to encourage the participation of those with different abilities.

Dialogue and discernment are intertwined, as the Pope said in his audience with the Civiltà Cattolica: “Spiritual discernment seeks to recognize the presence of God’s Spirit in our human and cultural reality; the seed of his presence already sown in events, in attitudes, in desires and in the profound struggles in our hearts and in social, cultural and spiritual contexts” (14.06.2013). This means that pastors have the obligation to discern situations well (cfr Familiaris Consortio n. 84 and Sacramentum Caritatis 29).

Therefore, pastoral concern should not be interpreted as opposed to law. On the contrary: love for the truth is the basic point of encounter between the law and pastoral care. Truth is not abstract; it integrates itself into the human and Christian journey of each believer. Pastoral care is also not a merely contingent practical application of theology. We are not meant to fit pastoral care to doctrine, but to preserve the original, constitutive pastoral seal of doctrine.

The language of mercy embodies the truth in life. The Pope's concern is therefore to re-contextualize doctrine at the service of the pastoral mission of the Church. Doctrine should be interpreted in relation to the heart of the Christian kerygma and in the light of the pastoral context in which it will be applied, always remembering that the suprema lex should be the salus animarum, as expressed in the final canon of the Code of Canon Law: “…and the salvation of souls, which must always be the supreme law in the Church, is to be kept before one’s eyes” (Canon 1752).

SAINT JOHN PAUL II ON THEOLOGY OF THE BODY

An important source for the Exhortation are the teachings of Saint John Paul II on the theology of the body (1980) and on the language of the body (1984).

The human body, oriented interiorly by the sincere gift of the person, reveals not only its masculinity or femininity on the physical plane, but reveals also such a value and such a beauty as to go beyond the purely physical dimension of sexuality In this manner awareness of the nuptial meaning of the body, connected with man's masculinity-femininity, is in a way completed. On the one hand, this meaning indicates a particular capacity of expressing love, in which man becomes a gift. On the other hand, the capacity and deep availability for the affirmation of the person corresponds to it. This is, literally, the capacity of living the fact that the other—the woman for the man and the man for the woman—is, by means of the body, someone willed by the Creator for his or her own sake. The person is unique and unrepeatable, someone chosen by eternal Love. (General Audience, 1/16/1980)

It is often thought that ethos itself takes away spontaneity from what is erotic in man’s life and behaviour. For this reason detachment from ethos is demanded "for the benefit" of eros. Also the words of the Sermon on the Mount would seem to hinder this "good." But this opinion is erroneous and, in any case, superficial. Obstinately accepting it and upholding it, we will never reach the full dimensions of eros. That inevitably has repercussions in the sphere of praxis, that is, in our behaviour and also in the concrete experience of values. Whoever accepts the ethos of Matthew 5:27-28 must know that he is also called to full and mature spontaneity of the relations that spring from the perennial attraction of masculinity and femininity. This spontaneity is the gradual fruit of the discernment of the impulses of one's own heart. Christ’s words are severe. They demand from man that, in the sphere in which relations with persons of the other sex are formed, he should have full and deep consciousness of his own acts, and above all of interior acts. They demand that he should be aware of the internal impulses of his heart, so as to be able to distinguish them and qualify them maturely. Christ's words demand that in this sphere, which seems to belong exclusively to the body and to the senses, that is, to exterior man, he should succeed in being an interior man. He should be able to obey correct conscience, and to be the true master of his own deep impulses, like a guardian who watches over a hidden spring. Finally he should draw from all those impulses what is fitting for purity of heart, building with conscience and consistency that personal sense of the nuptial meaning of the body, which opens the interior space of the freedom of the gift. (General Audience, 11/12/1980)

In Christ's words on continence for the kingdom of heaven there is no reference to the inferiority of marriage with regard to the body, or in other words with regard to the essence of marriage, consisting in the fact that man and woman join together in marriage, thus becoming one flesh. "The two will become one flesh" (Gn 2:24). Christ's words recorded in Matthew 19:11-12 (as also the words of Paul in 1 Cor 7) give no reason to assert the inferiority of marriage, nor the superiority of virginity or celibacy inasmuch as by their nature virginity and celibacy consist in abstinence from the conjugal union in the body. Christ’s words on this point are quite clear. He proposes to his disciples the ideal of continence and the call to it, not by reason of inferiority, nor with prejudice against conjugal union of the body, but only for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. (General Audience, 4/14/1982)

POPE FRANCIS ON THE FAMILY

From the year of catecheses by Pope Francis on the family, here are a dozen passages selected for their importance in the Exhortation.

At many Wednesday general audiences during 2015, Pope Francis dedicated his catechesis to the topic of the family. He reflected on the family in the light of scripture and tradition, social realities and challenges, current roles and future possibilities. Out of more than 30 talks, here is a selection highlighting some main features of the Holy Father’s teaching on the family.

“The Incarnation of the Son of God opens a new beginning in the universal history of man and woman. And this new beginning happens within a family, in Nazareth. Jesus was born in a family. (…) God chose to come into the world in a human family, which He himself formed.” (12/17/2014)

“There is a close link between the hope of a people and the harmony among generations. The joy of children causes the parents’ hearts to beat and reopens the future. Children are the joy of the family and of society. They are not a question of reproductive biology, nor one of the many ways to fulfill oneself, much less a possession of their parents.... No. Children are a gift, they are a gift: understood? Children are a gift. Each one is unique and irreplaceable; and at the same time unmistakably linked to his/her roots.” (2/11/2015)

“In the family, among siblings, human coexistence is learned, how one must live in society. Perhaps we are not always aware of it, but the family itself introduces fraternity into the world!” (2/18/2015) “First of all children remind us that we all, in the first years of life, were completely dependent upon the care and benevolence of others. The Son of God was not spared this stage. It is the mystery that we contemplate every year at Christmas. The Nativity Scene is the icon which communicates this reality in the simplest and most direct way.” (3/18/2015)

“Man and woman are the image and likeness of God. This tells us that it is not man alone who is the image of God or woman alone who is the image of God, but man and woman as a couple who are the image of God.” (4/15/2015) “Sin generates distrust and division between man and woman. Their relationship will be undermined by a thousand forms of abuse and subjugation, misleading seduction and humiliating ignorance, even the most dramatic and violent kind. And history bears the scar. Let us think, for example, of those negative excesses of patriarchal cultures. Think of the many forms of male dominance whereby the woman was considered second class. Think of the exploitation and the commercialization of the female body in the current media culture. And let us also think of the recent epidemic of distrust, skepticism, and even hostility that is spreading in our culture — in particular an understandable distrust from women — regarding a covenant between man and woman that is capable, at the same time, of refining the intimacy of communion and of guarding the dignity of difference.

“If we do not find a surge of respect for this covenant, capable of protecting new generations from distrust and indifference, children will come into the world ever more uprooted from the mother’s womb. The social devaluation for the stable and generative alliance between man and woman is certainly a loss for everyone. We must return marriage and the family to the place of honour!” (4/22/2015)

“The family tops all the indices of wellbeing among young people; but, fearing mistakes, many do not want to even consider it; even being Christians, they do not consider the sacrament of matrimony, the single and unrepeatable sign of the covenant, which becomes a testimony of faith. Perhaps this very fear of failure is the greatest obstacle to receiving the Word of Christ, which promises his grace to the conjugal union and to the family. (…) The Christian seed at the root of equality between spouses must bear new fruit today. The witness of the social dignity of marriage shall become persuasive precisely in this way, the way of a testimony which attracts, the way of reciprocity between them, of complementarity between them. For this reason, as Christians, we must become more demanding in this regard. For example: firmly support the right to equal pay for equal work; why is it taken for granted that women should earn less than men? No! They have the same rights. This disparity is an absolute disgrace! At the same time, recognize women’s motherhood and men’s fatherhood as an always precious treasure, for the good of their children above all.” (4/29/2015)

“The sacrament of marriage is a great act of faith and love: a witness to the courage to believe in the beauty of the creative act of God and to live that love that is always urging us to go on, beyond ourselves and even beyond our own family. (…) The decision to “wed in the Lord” also entails a missionary dimension, which means having at heart the willingness to be a medium for God’s blessing and for the Lord’s grace to all.” (5/6/2015)

“Around us we find various families in so-called irregular situations — I don’t really like this word”. (6/24/2015) “The Church is fully aware that such a situation is contrary to the Christian Sacrament. However, her gaze as a teacher always draws from a mother’s heart; a heart which, enlivened by the Holy Spirit, always seeks the good and the salvation of the people. This is why she feels obliged, “for the sake of truth”, to “exercise careful discernment of situations”. This is how St John Paul II expressed it in the Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio (n. 84). (…) In fact, these persons are by no means excommunicated — they are not excommunicated! — and they should absolutely not be treated as such: they are still a part of the Church. Pope Benedict XVI spoke about this question, calling for careful discernment and wise pastoral accompaniment, knowing that there are no “simple solutions” (Speech at the Seventh World Meeting of Families, Milan, 2 June 2012). Here the repeated call to Pastors to openly and consistently demonstrate the community’s willingness to welcome them and encourage them, so they may increasingly live and develop their membership in Christ and in the Church through prayer, by listening to the Word of God, by attending the liturgy, through the Christian education of their children, through charity and service to the poor, through the commitment to justice and peace.” (8/5/2015)

“Jesus never stops accepting and speaking to everyone, even those who no longer expect to encounter God in this life. That is an important lesson for the Church! The disciples were chosen to care for this assembly, for this family of God’s guests. In order to maintain this reality of the assembly of Jesus in today’s situation, it is indispensable to renew the covenant between the family and the Christian community. We could say that the family and the parish are the two places where the communion of love, which finds its ultimate source in God, takes place. A Church truly according to the Gospel cannot but take the form of a hospitable home, with its doors open, always. Churches, parishes, institutions with closed doors must never be called churches, they should be called museums!” (9/9/2015)

“The faith draws it from the wisdom of the creation of God, who has entrusted to the family, not the care of intimacy as an end in itself, but rather the exciting project of domesticating the world. The family is at the beginning, at the root of this world culture that saves us... saves us from many, many attacks, from so much destruction, from so many “colonizations”, like that of money or of the ideologies that threaten so much of the world. The family is the basis of our defence!” (9/16/2015) “The family, the fruitful covenant between man and woman, is the answer to the great challenge of our world. That challenge is two-fold: fragmentation and standardization, two extremes that coexist and foster each other, and together they support the economic model of consumerism. The family is the answer because it is the cell of a society that balances the personal and the communal dimensions, and that at the same time can be the model for the sustainable management of the goods and resources of creation. The family is the principal agent of an integral ecology, because it is the primary social agent, which contains within it the two foundational principles of human civilization on the earth: the principle of communion and the principle of fruitfulness.” (9/30/2015)

“With this reflection we arrive at the threshold of the Jubilee, its close. The door is before us, not just the Holy Door, but another: the great door of the Mercy of God — and that is a beautiful door! (…) An inhospitable Church, like a family closed off within itself, mortifies the Gospel and withers the world. No armoured doors in the Church, none! Completely open! The symbolic management of “doors” — of thresholds, of passages, of borders — has become crucial. The door must protect, of course, but not reject. The door must not be forced but on the contrary, one asks permission, because hospitality shines in the freedom of welcoming, and dims in the arrogance of invasion. The door is frequently opened, in order to see if there is someone waiting outside, perhaps without the courage nor, perhaps, the strength to knock. How many people have lost faith, do not have the courage to knock at the door of our Christian heart, at the doors of our churches.... And they are there, they don’t have the courage, we have taken away trust: please, may this never happen. A door says many things about the house, and also about the Church. Tending the door requires careful discernment and, at the same time, must inspire great faith.” (11/18/2015)

2014-2015 Synods of Bishops on the Family

The Synod is an assembly of bishops from around the world who assist the Holy Father by providing counsel on important questions facing the Church in a manner that preserves the Church's teaching and strengthens her internal discipline.

October 8, 2013

Pope Francis announces an Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for October 2014 on topics related to the family and evangelization. Subsequent communications made clear that the Extraordinary General Assembly would be followed by an Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in October 2015, on the same topics.

November 6, 2013

The Vatican releases a preparatory document entitled Pastoral Challenges to the Family in the Context of Evangelization. To allow the particular Churches to participate actively in the preparation of the Extraordinary Synod, this document includes a questionnaire addressing topics such as the knowledge of Church Doctrine among Catholics, the percentage of unmarried couples living together, addressing the spiritual needs of divorced couples and gays, and how to best foster a culture of life.

June 24, 2014

Over 90% of the episcopal conferences around the send responses to the initial preparatory document, which forms the basis for the document known as the Instrumentum Laboris. This document provides a substantive reflection on the major challenges facing the family today, and outlines the topics of discussion at the Extraordinary General Assembly.

October 5-19, 2014

253 participants gather in Vatican City to participate in the synod, including 114 presidents of Bishops' Conferences, 13 heads of Eastern Catholic Churches sui iuris, 25 heads of the dicasteries of the Roman Curia, nine members of the Ordinary Council for the Secretariat, and 38 auditors (including 13 married couples, and 16 experts). At the outset, Pope Francis encouraged the Synod fathers to speak openly, even if they had an opinion they were worried would conflict with those of the Holy Father (“It is necessary to say with parrhesia all that one feels.”).

October 19, 2014

Pope Francis releases the Relatio Synodi (final report) of the Extraordinary Synod. According to the conclusion of the document: “These proposed reflections, the fruit of the synodal work that took place in great freedom and with a spirit of reciprocal listening, are intended to raise questions and indicate points of view that will later be developed and clarified through reflection in the local Churches in the intervening year leading to the XIV Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops” (n. 62)

December 11, 2014

The Synod Secretariat releases the Lineamenta, which includes both the Relatio as well as a series of questions to generate an in-depth examination of the work initiated during the Extraordinary Assembly. The episcopal conferences are asked to choose a suitable manner of involving all components of the particular churches and academic institutions, organizations, lay movements and other ecclesial associations. The Catholic Diocese of Dallas participates in this questionnaire by collecting answers via an online survey.

June 23, 2015

The Instrumentum Laboris is released to serve as the "working document" for the Ordinary Synod. It contains the Relatio Synodi from the conclusion of the III Extraordinary Synod, as well as a summary of the responses to the questions in the Lineamenta. As explained by Cardinal Baldisseri in the Presentation of the Instrumentum Laboris, the three sections of the document "illustrate the continuity between the two Assembles".

October 4-25, 2015

The Fourteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, commonly known as the Synod on the Family, takes place at the Synod Hall in the Paul VI Audience Hall in Vatican City. Vatican officials announced a few days before the opening Mass that the 2015 assembly of the Synod would be run with three mini-Synods, one a week, for the three week duration. In week one, the bishops discuss challenges facing the family, in week two the bishops address the vocation of the family, and the final week is devoted to the mission of the family today. The final mini-Synod contains some of the most controversial issues, and small group sessions are conducted throughout the final week.

October 24, 2015

The Final Report of the Synod of Bishops to the Holy Father, Pope Francis is published. The conclusion of the document states: “We hope that the result of this work, now delivered into the hands of the Successor of Peter, might give hope and joy to many families in the world, guidance to pastors and pastoral workers, and a stimulus to the work of evangelization. In concluding this report, we humbly ask the Holy Father to consider the possibility of issuing a document on the family, so that the family, the domestic Church, might increasingly radiate Christ, who is the light of the world.”

April 8, 2016

The Vatican releases a postsynodal apostolic exhortation titled 'Amoris Laetitia: On Love in the Family'.